CIBC ranks as top financial adviser on M&A

Reuters Staff

4 Min Read

TORONTO (Reuters) - CIBC (CM.TO) emerged as Canada’s top financial adviser on mergers and acquisitions in 2011 after bringing its expertise to some of the biggest mining deals of the year, according to data released on Thursday.

CIBC World Markets, the capital markets arm of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, advised on 38 deals worth $35.6 billion in the year, including serving as adviser to Equinox Minerals on its C$7.3 billion ($7.2 billion) sale to Barrick Gold (ABX.TO).

All told, CIBC took a 22.7 percent market share in Canada, a hub for resource-related mergers and acquisitions, the data from Thomson Reuters showed.

BMO Capital markets, the investment banking arm of the Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO), came in a close second, slipping from first place in 2010. Last year, it advised on 58 deals worth C$34.7 billion, garnering a 22.2 percent share.

Canada’s two largest lenders, the Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) and Toronto Dominion Bank (TD.TO), came third and fourth, with 17.7 percent and 17 percent of the market respectively.

CIBC’s first-place finish followed its sixth-place ranking in 2010, when it advised on 53 deals worth $28.5 billion. In 2010 it took a 15.8 percent share of Canadian dealmaking.

One of BMO’s top deals of the year was the roughly C$3 billion takeover of Toronto-listed Quadra FNX Mining QUX.TO by Europe’s No. 2 copper producer, KGHM KGHM.WA, announced in December.

The top-ranked legal advisers in Canadian dealmaking for the year were the law firms Blake Cassels & Graydon, Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP and Torys.

DEBT AND EQUITY

Canadian debt issuance in 2011, excluding self-funded transactions, reached C$159.6 billion from 410 deals, a decrease of 3.4 percent from a year earlier.

League table leaders in the category were RBC Capital Markets, with a 23.5 percent market share, TD Securities, with 18.3 percent and CIBC World Markets with 17.7 percent.

The number of deals per bookrunner were 120, 92 and 148, respectively.

Data showed Canadian equity and equity-related issuance totaled C$32.2 billion from 565 issues in 2011, down 11.5 percent from total proceeds from 2010.

The energy and power sector was the most active, with a 42.8 percent of market share, followed by materials and real estate.

Top bookrunners for Canadian equity and equity-related deals were TD, RBC and BMO, followed by CIBC and Scotia Capital, the investment banking arm of the Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO).

The preferred share market was led by RBC, followed by Scotia and TD.

For initial public offerings, a market which nearly ground to a halt at the end of 2011, the lead bookrunner was RBC, which improved on a fourth-place ranking for 2010.

TD jumped to second from fifth place and Scotia Capital jumped to third place from a 12th-place ranking in the year ago period.

Fourth, fifth and sixth place in IPOs went to BMO, JP Morgan and CIBC.